As someone who writes fiction as my side job, I seek inspiration, either from other people or from places. Additionally, as a writer who is about to publish my 4th novel, I use places almost as I use characters in my novel—they must have a personality and purpose. Setting is very important to me, and…
Tag: travel
Twilight and Twinkles and Travel
* As I tell my students in the special topics in travel writing course I teach, travel happens as soon as you step outside your door. Day trips, afternoon trips, and evening trips can all be wonderful experiences, especially when you’re sharing the time with someone you love. It can also be great to go…
Travel, Interrupted
Lesson learned in 2018: Perhaps avoid planning travel excursions during the holiday season when people are getting sick and germs are running rampant. Last week, the day after Christmas, for the second year in a row, we had planned a trip to Asheville, North Carolina, with two days in Williamsburg to follow at Christmas….
Life Philosophies, Not Resolutions This Year
This year I decided to do something different. Instead of making New Year’s Resolutions that we forget two weeks into the year, I decided to adopt some life philosophies full of wisdom and put them into action the whole year long. I love quotes, sayings, and the ability that people have to say succinctly what…
My Travel Writing Class and Their Work: Feeling Like a Proud Momma
* Wow. It’s hard to believe we have come to the end of another semester. My group of writers in our travel writing class published their stories today on our WordPress site called MORE THAN MARYLAND that I set up as a place to house of all of my All-Star Travelers who have taken the…
My Experience of Teaching a Travel Writing Course
I’ve been pretty fortunate to have the opportunity to teach a course called Special Topics in Travel Writing at Stevenson University, where I am a full-time professor. It’s one of my favorite courses to teach, and for years in another course I teach called Feature Writing, we cover travel writing as part of the curriculum….
Take Me To Portwenn…Doc Martin’s Village
If you picked me up today and plucked me in the picturesque and intimate village of Portwenn, the fictional Cornish fishing town depicted in the British television series Doc Martin, I would be able to converse with the locals, know where to eat, visit Mrs. Tishell to purchase my vitamins, and, if I ever fell…
Travel Blog: Santa Barbara & Los Angeles
As we packed the car in the morning to make our way to Santa Barbara, we bought breakfast sandwiches from the Inn at Spanish Bay. It was my brilliant idea to take the sandwiches to go so that we could have some time in Santa Barbara, as it was our quickest stop overnight. The ride…
They Say That Travel Changes You
They say that travel changes you. This is known to be true. For every time you take a step, No matter how many or few– The perspective that you used to have Is replaced with something new. —stephanie verni—
Eating My East Coast Snobbery and That One Sentence
If you ask my husband, he’ll tell you I’m horrible at admitting when I’m wrong, so I figured I’d practice eating my words today with the hope that I may become better at acknowledging when I am incorrect. Over and over again throughout my years, I have uttered this singular sentence: I am an East…
Remembering Venice Through Poetry
I think of Venice often, even though it’s been many years since I’ve been there. It was the most unique and amazing place I have ever visited; Italy in general holds a special place in my heart because both my family and my husband’s family are of Italian heritage. Many people say the Grand Canal…
Kind of In Love With the Eastern Shore
Two weekends ago, my husband and I celebrated 20 years of marriage with a quick getaway to St. Michaels, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. It’s near the other town I love, Oxford, Maryland, where my novel, Inn Significant, is set. Both those towns have a ton of charm and are surrounded by water. They are quite…
